Machine for dealing playing-cards.



G. MURCH.

MACHINE FOR DBALING PLAYING CARDS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 28, 1998.

Patented Aug. 1, 1911.

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GEORGE MURCH, 0F CAPETOWN, CAPE COLONY.

MACHINE FOR DEALING PLAYING-CARDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1, 1911.

Application filed August 28, 1908. Serial No. 450,632.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Minion, a subject of Great Britain, residingat Capetown, Cape Colony, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Machines for Dealing Playing-Cards, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein totheaccompanying drawings.

The invention has relation to card dealing machines of the classexemplified by that of United States Letters Patent N o. 842,803,granted to me under date of January 29, 1907. The machine of the saidpatent is characterized by the employment of a r0- tary dealer-carrier,a card-holder or box carried thereby, and devices acting in the rotationof the said dealer-carrier to deliver,

cards at predetermined points in the said rotation. The particulardelivering devices which are shown and described in the patent justreferred to include a dealer-roll which, by its engagement with thefirst card of the pack within the card-holder or box, operates to ejector discharge the cards successively at the predetermined places in therotation of the dealer-carrier.

The irst object of the invention is to provide in simple manner forcorrecting any tendency of a frictional dealer-roll to gain or lose indischarging the cards from the card-holder or box.

'Io this end, the first portion of the invention consists in means forvarying at will the force with which the cards and deliveryroll arepressed together, thereby regulating the frictional engagement betweenthe said roll and each card to be dealt. Most conveniently, this iscarried into effect by providing means to adjust the tension of thesprings which press the card-holder or box toward the delivery-roll.vWhen the said `roll loses in delivering the' cards, so that each oft-he latter is discharged later than is desired, the said means may beoperated to cause the cards to be pressed with a properlygraduatedincreased force against the roll, which will securegreater promptness ofdelivery; when the roll gains, so that each card is discharged earlierthan desired, the pressure may be reduced, whereupon the deliv-`ery'will be retarded. By a proper manipulation of the adjusting means,the times of delivery of the successive cards may be regulated withgreat nicety.

Card dealing machines such as aforesaid have been provided with a gagehaving for delivering action.

oneof the functions thereof to prevent more than one card from being fedat a time. Having investigated to ascertain the cause of frequentinterruptions in the dealing, I have discovered that these occur inlarge part as a result of the engagement of the gage with a battered andthickened portion of the leading end of a card, or with the depressedportion of a card which has become bent transversely. Cards that havevbeen used some time often become battered and bruised at the edgesthereof so as to thicken the latter, and card players often squeeze apack of 4cards transversely( while holding the same and thereby bow orbend the cards, giving a more or less permanent set thereto. Variousattempts have been made to remedy these interruptions of the feeding butwithout success heretofore.

I have disposed of the diiculty and obviated the tendency to suchinterruptions by the second which consists in a gaging device havingacting portions arranged to engage solely with portions of the ends ofthe cards at or close to the side-edges of the latter, and havingintermediate such acting portions a depression which accommodates anybattered yand thickened intermediate portions of the end of the topcard, and any downwardly bent orbowed portion of such end, thuspermitting the top card to be advanced without hindrance from the gage.

The invention also has relation to means for keeping a rotarydealer-roll in working condition. Much ditliculty has been experiencedin practice in the use of carddealing machines, owing to variability inthe A givenmachine at times delivers 'cards of one pack with a spacingdifferent from that with which it delivers the cards of another pack,and sometimes varies, as regards spacing, in delivering the cards of thesame pack at different times. I have discovered that this is largely dueto the surface of the dealer-roll becoming charged with dust, grease, orthe substance with which cards are coated. Then the roll has gathereddust, etc;, its friction-al hold upon the card which is in contacttherewith is reduced and its action in feeding such card is altered, andhence the succesportion of my invention,-

sive cards are not fed or discharged accurately and uniformly. Thisportion of my invention comprises means for obviating this drawback, andconsists in a wiper for the lower portions of the the dealer-roll bywhich its surface is kept in proper condition for action, wherebyaccurate delivery is secured.

ed machine containing embodiments of the features of the invention isshown .in the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of such machine 1nside elevation. Fig. 2 is a view thereoitl 1n plan. Fig. 3 is a View invertical section on line 3, 3, of Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4t is a detailview in side elevation on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a View of thegage, detached, also .on an enlarged scale.

Having reference to the draw1ngs,-at 1 is t-he stationary base or standof the machine, and 2 is the revoluble dealer-carrier, the latter havingthe socket bearing 3 tting upon the upright supporting-pm 4 projectingfrom the top of the central post of the said base or stand.

At 5 is the handle upon'the dealer-carrier which is grasped for thepurpose of manually turning the dealer-carrier around upon the saidsupporting-pin.

At 6 is the dealer-roll which is mounted upon the dealer-carrier, itssupporting-shaft, which is marked 7, being tted to bearings which areprovided \at 8, 8, in connection with the dealer-carrier.

The card-holder or box is designated 9, the guide-rods on which it ismounted t 1de vertically toward'and from the deale"roll` being shown at10, 10, and at 11, 11, are the springs which act upon the card-holder orbox to press the bottom 12 thereof, and the cards resting thereon,toward the periphery of the dealer-roll. The said springs encircleide-rods, and act expansively upward against the bottom 12 and bear thecard-holder or box toward the dealer-roll.

At 14: is the gage by which the dealing of more than one card at a timeby the ,dealerroll is prevented, it being held by screws 11"),

15, to a supporting-bar 16 that in turn is attached by screws 17, 17, todepending portions of the dealer-carrier. For convenience in setting thesaidbar 16, and setting and alining the gage, the holes 18, 18, that areformed in the said depending portions to receive the stems of the screws17, 17, are made, in the form of vertically-elongated slots. To enablethe gage to be adjufted vertically upon the bar 16, the holes 19, 19,that are formed in the latter to receive the stems of the screws 15,15,V are made in the form of vertically-elongated slots, and a screw 2Ois applied to lugs 21, 21, projecting from the bar, the said screw beingpassed through holes in a. pair of lugs 22, 22, projecting from thegage, and a nut 23 being threaded upon the said screw between the latterlugs. By turning this nut manually it is shifted up or down upon thefixed screw' 20, and through the engagement of the nut with the lugs 22,22, the gage is correspondingly raised or lowered.

As here shown, though not necessarily in all embodiments of theinvention, the dealerroll derives its movement of rotation from theturning movement of the dealer-carrier, through the engagement of apinion 2li, which is operatively connected to the dealerroll, withcircularly-disposed stationary teeth at 25 Fig. 2 upon the top of thepost of the base 0r st-and, the said stationary teeth being arrangedconcentrically with relation to the axis of the supporting-pin a. 'lloenable the number of deliveries made in a round to be varied at will, aplurality of concentric series or racks of the teeth 25 is provided, asshown in Fig. 2, the different seriesor racks containing diderentnumbers of teeth, and pinion 24. is adapted to be shifted from one ofsuch series or racks to another. In Fig. 4 the said pinion is shownfined in place upon its carrying shaft by means of a screw 25, andscrew-threaded holes are tapped in the shaft at 26, 26, etc., atthe'places to be occupied by the pinion when in engagement with therespective series or racks. To permit the pinion24f to be shifted fromone circular series of teeth, or ralr, to another, and adapt the teethof the pinion for engagement at different times -with teeth describedonpitch-circles of different diameters, the said pinion, instead of beinga. bevel gear of customary shape is 4of modified construction to suitsuch-.requirements. Its teeth are made much narrower than usual, forinstance, in the shape of pins as in Fig. 4f.

In order to enable the force with which the cards and delivery-roll arepressed together to be varied at will, so as to regulate the frictionalengagement between thesaid roll and the cards to be dealt, for thepurpose of compensating for tendency of the dealer-roll to gain or losein dealing the cards, l screw-thread the lower portions of theguide-rods 10, 10, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and apply to the samethe nuts 13', 13, against which the lower ends of the springs 11,V11,.take their bearing. By ,turning the nuts up on the guide-rods so asthereby to increase the tension of the springs and the degree ofpressure, a tendency of the dealerroll to lose in dealing may becorrected, while tendency to gain may be corrected by turning them downso as to decrease the said tension and the degree of pressure. Toprevent the guide-rods from becoming bent or sprung out of parallelismwith each other,

axis of the dealer-roll is correspondingly stance, one having thesurface thereof cor- .in taking hold inclined with respect to theradius. The machine shown is arranged to deliver rearwardly, andtherefore, as a result of such inclination of the said aXis the Acard isextended at an outward inclination rearwardly 1n being fed by thedealer-roll. A rear delivery machine having the axis of the dealerrollforwardly inclined, as shown in Fig. 2, will distribute the `cardsfarther from the center than one having the axis of thedealer-rolLradial or parallel with a radius. y varying the inclination,the action indelivering may be varied to meet requirements. Thus, thecard shall be directed inward in being delivered, the card may bedropped closer to the center, and othery advantageous results may beattained by arranging the dealer-roll to stand at right angles to aradius. v

In the present instance the driving arrangements for the dealer-rollhave been adapted to thev inclined position of the latter by providingthe shaft i of such roll with a bevel-gear 27, and mounting the pinion24 upon a short secondary shaft 28 carrying a bevel-gear meshing withbevel-gear 27. The said secondary shaft is mounted in bearings at 30 and31 upon the arm of the dealer'- carrier, and its socket 3, respectively.

In the separate detail View of the gaging device 14.- .shown'in Fig. 5,the said device is represented as a strip having acting portions 14,14a, the said acting portions being, as heretofore stated, separatedfrom each other and so located as to engage with the ends of the cardsof edges. The space or depression intervening between such actingportlons accommodates any enlargement or bend'at or near the middle ofthe width of the top card, and hence the improved form of gage permitsthe card to beadvanced without being ob'- structed.

The dealer-roll 6 is provided with a rubber covering 6a. I secure thegreatest power of a card and feeding the same from the machine throughthe employment of a rubber covering which has the acting surface thereofformed with alternate elevations and depressions, as, for inrugated, asshown in the drawings. The Wiper by The arrangement of the Wiper thecards by reversing the inclination, so that the pack contained in `theholder or box only close to their sidetion, a card-holder,

which the acting surface ofthe* In testimonfy dealer-roll is kept inworking condition is and hangingdown upon may be varied. The wiper takesfrom the eriphery of the dealer-roll such particles of dust, lint, andthe like, as' become adherent thereto, and also removes grease andcoatingmaterial transferred from the surfaces of to such periphery. Thecleaning action is greatly facilitated by forming the acting surface of'the roll with corrugations, etc.

I claim las my invention l. In a card-dealin' machine, in combination, africtional dea er-roll, a card-holder, means acting to produce pressurebetween such roll and the top card, and means for regulating the time ofdelivery ofthe respective cards by adjusting the frictional engigementof the roll with the'said top car 2. In a card-dealing machine, incombination, a frictional dealer-roll, a/card-holder, a spring by whichthe said card-holder and roll are pressed toward each other, and

means for regulating the -time of delivery of the respective cards" byadjusting the tension of the said spring'so as to vary the frictionalengagement of the roll with the card presented thereto by thecard-holder.

In a card-dealing machine, in combination, card-delivering means, and a,deliverygage having separated acting portions with intermediate space,said acting portions arranged to engage with theend of a card at or nearthe side-edges ofthe latter.

4. In a card-dealing machine, intcombination, a card-dealing roll, and adeliverygage having separated acting portions with intermediate space,said acting portions arranged to engage with the end of a card at ornear the slde-edges of the latter. A

5. In a card-dealing machine, in combination, a card-holder, adealer-roll having a frictional surface for engagement with the surfaceof a card to be fed, and a..wiper actin to 4keep the said surface of thedealerroll rictionally active. f

6. In a card-dealing machine, in combination, a card-holder, arubber-surfaced dealerroll, and a wiper acting to keep the surface ofsaid roll-friction'allyactive.y c

In a card-dealing machine, in combinaa dealer-roll having Aa corrugatedrubber acting surface, and a wiper acting upon such surface to keep thesame frictionally active. x

whereof I affix my signature two witnesses.

GEORGE vMURCH.

111 Presence O Witnesses:

CHAs. F. RANDALL, EDITH J. ANDERSON.

